According to a spokesperson for Manic Street Preachers, guitarist Richey Edwards' legal status has been changed from "missing" to "presumed dead". Edwards went missing from a hotel in central London on February 1, 1995 aged 27. His car was found near the Severn Bridge, and it is believed Edwards took his own life. Pic: PA Photos

Despite Richey Edwards' struggles with depression, the three remaining members of Manic Street Preachers are keen to remind people that the guitarist also had a fun-loving side. One of Nicky Wire's fondest memories of Edwards is of him moonwalking, drunk, across the top of a bar upon learning that a Manics single had gone Top 20 in 1992.
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Those who argue that Richey Edwards may still be alive point to the fact that, in the two weeks leading up to his disappearance on February 1, 1995 the guitarist had been withdrawing Â£200 a day in cash. Since then he has purportedly been spotted in a hippie market in Goa, India and on the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, although none of the sightings have been confirmed.

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Many people who knew Richey Edwards still refuse to believe he committed suicide in 1995. Edwards himself said in 1994 that he would never consider killing himself: "In terms of the 'S' word, that does not enter my mind. And it never has done, in terms of an attempt. Because I am stronger than that. I might be a weak person, but I can take pain."
Pic: PA Photos

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A lawyer representing Richey Edwards' (second left) family has stressed that changing the guitarist's status to "presumed dead" was "not the same as an acceptance that he is dead". Should Edwards ever return he would be a very wealthy man, since Manic Street Preachers have been paying 25% of all royalties into a special fund ever since his disappearance in 1995.
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It has been speculated that, had Richey Edwards not disappeared in 1995, Manic Street Preachers' commercial breakthrough album 'Everything Must Go' would have sounded dramatically different, Edwards having expressed a desire to create a concept album described as "Pantera meets Nine Inch Nails meets Screamadelica".
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Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards (second left) never made any secret of his struggles with depression, which led him to self-harm. "When I cut myself I feel so much better," he explained. "All the little things that might have been annoying me suddenly seem so trivial because I'm concentrating on the pain. I'm not a person who can scream and shout so this is my only outlet. It's all done very logically."
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Manic Street Preachers

Richey Edwards, Manic Street Preachers' co-lyricist with Nicky Wire, always maintained that attitude and charisma were more important than musical ability. "Why is everyone hung up on an ugly piece of wood and metal and strings?" he once asked. "I can't play guitar very well, but I wanna make the guitar look lethal."
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Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers dedicated a song to missing guitarist Richey Edwards during their Reading Festival set on August 23, 2008. "So, Reading Festival number five for us," said bassist Nicky Wire before playing 'La Tristessa Durera (Scream To A Sigh)'. "Richey only played one of those with us. But it feels like he's been there for a lot longer than that."
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Manic Street Preachers

Richey Edwards was an influence on a generation of musicians, not least Pete Doherty, who wrote a letter to NME in 1997 denouncing Manics copyists. Then aged 18, the future Libertine wrote: "The Marxists, Situationists, pseudo-bisexual-BAD POETS avec eyeliner, pseudo-leopardskin BAD POETS sans eyeliner, and the rest of the Cult Of Nothing should accept, for the last time, that with Richey went all feeble hopes of purity and guitars and profound graffiti."
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On May 15 1991, after a gig at the Norwich Arts Centre, Richey Edwards carved the legend '4 Real' into his arm with a razorblade, in response to a line of questioning from journalist Steve Lamacq, who had questioned Manic Street Preachers' punk-rock credentials.
Pic: Ed Sirrs